It's in His Blood Texas's Chris Owens has the same urge to excel that his great uncle Jesse had

Each time Texas junior forward Chris Owens steps to the freethrow line, he taps his nose with his left thumb. Owens adoptedthe gesture this season after his mother, Minnie, told him thathis great uncle, Jesse, the legendary sprinter, had done the samething before races. "I do it as a tribute to him," Chris says."Hopefully, I can also do something that will make futuregenerations proud."

That sense of duty is apparent in Owens's approach to life aswell as basketball. As a senior at Duncanville (Texas) High,Owens was The Dallas Morning News player of the year, and hesigned with Tulane, for which he started 27 games as a freshman.Seeking better competition and wanting to play closer to home,Owens transferred to Texas after one season. Though NCAA rulesprecluded Owens from appearing in games during his first seasonin Austin, his dedication was noticeable immediately. "He was theonly guy that year who stayed in the gym after practice," saysLonghorns coach Rick Barnes.

Now the 6'9", 245-pound Owens is one of the most explosive bigmen in the country for Texas, which through Monday was 13-3. Hewas among the nation's best in blocks (3.3 per game) and inrebounding (8.4). While Barnes wryly notes that Owens "doesn'trun like Uncle Jesse," Owens's scoring has improved from 9.4points last season to 14.0 this year.

Nonetheless, says Barnes, "our guys are still waiting for him toreally dominate." That's because the same things that motivateOwens suffocate him at times. "Chris's biggest problem is thathe's too hard on himself," says Barnes. "He doesn't think heshould have any weaknesses."

That was evident after Owens went 1 for 11 in Texas's 70-51 winover Texas-San Antonio on Nov. 28. The next day, when Barnestalked to Owens about the game, Owens broke down in tears. "Itold him, 'You need to stop worrying about so many things,'"Barnes says. "He tries to be everything to everybody."

While growing up in Akron, Owens watched his father, Rick,succumb to multiple sclerosis at age 45. Chris, who was 15 whenhis father died, remembers seeing Rick in tears one morningafter struggling for two hours to dress himself for work. Rickspent the last two years of his life bedridden in a nursinghome, and as Chris was leaving his father's room during whatwould prove to be his final visit, Rick told him, "Make sure youtake care of your mom."

A history major who hopes to go to law school after hisbasketball career is over, Owens interned at an Austin law firmduring the summer of 1999. Barnes, for one, constantly testsOwens's perspectives. When he recently overheard Owens say hewasn't a "typical black man," the comment sparked a 2 1/2-hourdebate over what Owens meant.

Owens concedes that he needs to do a better job of accepting hisfailures, but that doesn't mean he's about to abandon hispursuit of perfection. "I'm always going to try to do better,"he says. "I want to live life the way I feel it should be lived.Then when it's all said and done, I can at least say I gave iteverything I had."